I find your comment helpful insofar as it points to ways in which my article might be misunderstood, but it would be more productive to be inquisitive.

Is this just a "screw you"?

Do you have an alternative explanation to the two that I proposed?

How about: Terence was telling a polite white lie of the sort he probably often tells. Politeness is an easier guess than "poor metacognition".

But, in this case, the bonder is another Quirrell picked from this all-Quirrel community, right?

Of course, if we allow the ritual to depend on the completion of other rituals, then the problem is moot.

It strikes me that this conversation really hinges on just how evil HPMOR's Quirrell turns out to be, which is problematic since you know a few chapters more plot than I do...

(Also, since I find myself having a conversation with you, might I say that I very much like HPMOR, and that I would like it even more if you were to amend chapter 19 so that Quirrell didn't perpetuate one or two myths about martial arts, a subject on which I focus a certain amount of my own nerdly attentions? I posted a review under "James", but the short version is that (1) martial arts aren't particularly Asian, and (2) "I'm a sixth dan" means no more than "I once got a B- in a class whose subject I won't divulge except to say that it was 'Math'.")

Wouldn't this require one Quirrell to agree to sacrifice a part of his power before any other Quirrell does? (Assuming that all of the vow rituals taking place at the same time would require each Quirrell to take part in more than one ritual simultaneously, which doesn't seem possible.) It seems to me that a Quirrell wouldn't agree to this.